


to see me how you do

by notnyebevan



Category: Gentleman Jack (TV)
Genre: F/F, This fandom already has enough modern au but i am here to contribute and be useless, ann is an artist and anne is a ceo, semi planned out but also a bit of a mess atm
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-29
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-09-29 21:30:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20442833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notnyebevan/pseuds/notnyebevan
Summary: Au in which Ann is a struggling artist who is forced to work as a secretary for Shibden enterprises





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i had a really complex day dream and now this is a thing im writing i guess?

The email has been opened for at least five minutes

Miss Walker,

Attached is the contract for the position, if you could get it back to me by the end of Friday that would be great, ideally I’d like you to start work on Monday. In the meantime, please feel free to contact me regarding any questions you have.

Kind regards,

Anne Lister

CEO

Shibden Enterprises

Ann did not want to have to take the job. She had an art career to work at, stuff to paint, galleries to convince into showing her work, a gallery of her own to save up for. But Ann was also not rich, and her own gallery would be expensive. Horrifically expensive. She’d done the fun part of making it happen sure, finding a space, convincing the current owner to sell to her when they put it on the market. But the hypothetical price she’d pay and the actual money in her bank account were two different things. She had 6 months before Mrs Ainsworth would have to sell the gallery, her failing health wouldn’t allow her to keep operating it, and Ann would need the money. She needed a source of income beyond the sales from temporary exhibitions she was getting at the moment and she needed it fast.

So a job it was, she’d done secretary work before and when her cousin had mentioned a Miss Anne Lister looking for a temporary assistant she couldn’t say no. A few quick emails and it was all sorted, nothing like a bit of nepotism to help with the hiring process. Ann would work as Miss Lister’s assistant for the six months it took to bridge the gap between her current assistant and the newest hire, and then, when it was over, she could finally buy that gallery and devote her work life to her art.

Before she can spend any more time staring at the email her phone buzzes

**Catherine**: PLEASE tell me you are free this evening, I am pissed off and need a gin and tonic like 5 minutes ago

Ah Catherine, ever the dramatist. At least now she’d have someone to commiserate on her situation with this evening.

**Ann:** I am at your disposal but please don’t make me put real trousers on this evening. I will instead accept a visitor to my flat

**Ann:** a visitor who brings gin with them

**Ann:** and also tonic water, im out

The reply comes almost immediately

**Catherine: **you SUCK but also YAY. See you in about half an hour angel. gin, tonic, SNACKS, all in tow.

At least that gave her a deadline for replying to Miss Lister. With the reward of alcohol and gossip on the horizon she finds the motivation to finish signing the contract and sends it off, Shibden Enterprises is about to get the least willing secretary of the company’s life.

Catherine had arrived exactly 25 minutes later, arms loaded with the promised drink, as well as a glutton of pizza and garlic bread. Exactly an hour later and its all been consumed, the two girls sit sprawled on opposite ends of Ann’s sofa covered in a blanket each, legs crossed in the middle. The bright pink of Ann’s sofa (a horrific pink at that, part of the furniture that came with the flat) clashes with the intricate detailing on both blankets (hand sewn by a friend from art school). The room is dimly lit by a combination of Ann’s fairy lights strung up around the room and the myriad of candles Catherine lit upon arriving. The plates from the now eaten food sit on the coffee table, alongside a rough sketch for a future painting Ann had been working on and still open paperback. It’s the way she likes to keep her flat; messy, cosy and undeniably hers. She’s too busy with her work to focus on neatness or a colour scheme anyway.

Catherine’s promised anger is all directed towards her boss, having a fellow starving artist as a best friend is great but hearing about her second life in the service industry is reminding Ann how much she is dreading Monday morning.

“…and THAT is why I am quitting the second you buy your gallery” The words leave Catherine’s lips with a triumphant wave of her arm. Current horizontal position be damned, almost everything that Catherine says is overly dramatic and requires a level of physicality to match.

“why when I open MY gallery Catherine?” confusion creases Ann’s forehead and the words are accompanied with a weary sigh

“Because you will employ me, and save me, and be the best friend that I know you are”

“Flattery will get you nowhere” Ann’s words are harsh, but her tone is light. The roles are well played out for both girls and its familiar, comforting territory.

“Speaking of the dreaded J O B, how excited are you to start up at Shibden?”

The answer comes in the form of a long groan, combined with reaching for Ann’s, now almost empty, glass. “Don’t remind me Cath”

“Do you even know what the company does”

“ Not really, its all a bit vague, I think they buy up property and then re-sell ?. or maybe they manage it” she had asked Eliza for details but the woman was not particularly interesting at the best of times and any detail related to the Corporate world was unlikely to keep Ann’s attention for long.

If Catherine judges her for knowing this little it doesn’t show “And the elusive miss Lister?”

“Only what Eliza’s said” Ann starts speaking in an over exaggerated posh accent, her family may like to think they’re high society but it’s all new money. God forbid anyone know that though. “That she’s_ incredible_ and _marvellous_ and _oh so unique_”

“Please stop impersonating my least favourite of your relatives” Catherine had been dragged to multiple family gatherings at this point and her familiarity with the intricacies of the Walker clan made her one of the few people who truly understood Ann’s hesitancy to spend any more time than necessary with them. “Can we google her?”

“Eliza?”

A cushion flies towards ann’s face, misses and falls to the floor behind her head “NO you idiot, Anne Lister”

Ann’s response is ignored, as Catherine reaches for her phone and opens her browser app.

“Shit, she likes the colour black”

“Let me see Catherine”

“I thought you didn’t care”

“She’s my boss now, I should know what she looks like” the words are combined with Ann sitting up and leaning over Catherine to grab the phone. When she finally pry’s it out of Catherine’s hand she sees the picture that will haunt her all weekend long. Anne Lister sits poker straight, legs spread out on a wooden stool. Her slim body is defined by a sleek black suit, obviously tailored to her and obviously obscenely expensive. But it’s the face that grabs Ann’s attention and holds it there. Sharp angular features framed by sleek brown hair. The expression shows no sign of a smile, instead Miss Lister stares straight down the camera, as if daring any viewer to attempt to cross her. Ann gulps hard

Fuck shes hot.


	2. Chapter 2

The rest of the weekend passes by in a blur. Ann has way too much to do to worry too much about Anne Lister for long. She has a showing coming up in a week and 10 million things to prepare for it. Catherine had ended up staying over on Friday night after Ann refused to let her walk home alone, once she’d gone though Ann had started painting immediately and hardly put down her brush except to eat and sleep. The result on Sunday night is an almost ready show, save for a few last-minute changes she’s bound to make. She celebrates by allowing herself a few hours of Netflix and her beloved sofa, that and a quick second search for information on the mysterious Anne Lister.

As it turns out there’s a lot available, the woman is crazy successful and almost every article on her is accompanied by a picture which Ann swears were all pulled from her subconscious because this woman really is her type down to a tee. Its not just the way she looks, although that does help, but the confidence that leaks from every picture ever taken of her, every answer to an interviewer’s question. Its undeniably sexy, and the fact that she apparently turned Shibden from a small struggling family business, to a multi-national property empire doesn’t help. Smart, Successful, Handsome, Rich. Ann has absolutely no chance and she knows it.

It doesn’t stop her from acting as if she could though. Never one to own much business attire, the majority of her wardrobe being either loud clashing colours or floral prints, she still manages to spend a half hour on Monday morning looking for the perfect outfit. Which doesn’t exist, because she does not fit well in the business world godamnit. If she could just accept that she would see that a white blouse and plain black skirt really is the best she was going to get. That realisation hits her around the same time the fact that it’s raining outside, heavily, does. Her only raincoat is bright yellow, because of course it is, and now she looks like a child. A child who in all her own indecision was now running late and Anne Lister really didn’t seem like the type to forgive tardiness so the raincoat will have to do. She’s just getting onto the tube when her phone beeps

**Catherine: ** Here is your daily reminder that you cannot develop a crush on your boss no matter how much she is the epitome of your type. SHE IS YOUR BOSS

For a moment she decides to agree with Catherine, sure she spent actual time on her hair this morning, and she is wearing more make-up than usual. But these are all things she’d do for any job, she’s not trying to impress Anne at all. Not one bit

She arrives at the office exactly five minutes late where she’s escorted straight into Anne’s office. Dripping wet. In her bright yellow raincoat. Anne is sat at her desk, perfectly dry, perfectly perfect suit looking perfectly incredible on her perfect body. It all makes Ann question her promises to not develop a crush. It takes her a second to realise that she is definitely staring and OMG you cannot ogle your boss that you literally just met

“Hi”

It’s the least professional greeting she may have ever given but Anne just smiles and moves forward in her chair, stretching out a hand to shake.

“Hello Miss walker, love the raincoat” Ann can’t tell if she’s being serious or not but the smile that accompanies her words is warm and inviting “Sit down, you can hang it up next to the door”

There’s a hook on the wall and Ann is grateful to finally get rid of the thing. Feeling just the slightest bit more professional she turns back to Ann and takes the seat facing her desk.

“Great, we have a lot to get through this morning” Anne emphasises her words with a sweep of her hands before delving into a rapid-fire explanation of everything she needs Ann to do while she’s working here. It’s a long conversation and one that would have reminded Ann just how little she actually wanted to be here. Except it doesn’t, and the only thing she can place that on is Anne herself, because there is no other human on the planet who could talk about emails so enthusiastically. It’s a conscious effort for Ann to keep reminding herself that she really does find this stuff boring.

Half an hour later and she's shown to a desk right outside the office. Anne disappears soon after and Ann is left to start work. It turns out most of what she needs to do is making up the slack for the lack of hours in the day and overwhelming workload of Shibden’s CEO. Her calendar alone is enough to give Ann a headache and she’s only supposed to check for clashes, never mind actually live it. It’s a surprise then when 12:30 arrives to see Anne stood at her desk

“Would you like to go to lunch with me?” She’s stood closer to the desk than entirely necessary and from her chair Ann has to crane her neck to make eye contact. She’s somewhat taken aback by the request and her reply lodges itself in her throat. The silence is long enough to prompt Anne to continue. “you don’t have to, I just thought it would be good to get to know each other since we haven’t really spoken much and …”

“I’d love to” Ann doesn’t even realise she’s interrupting and in retrospect she really wishes she hadn’t said the word love. The eye contact she made to be polite is becoming a little too intense.

“Perfect, there’s a great little place down the road from here” She smiles, teeth on full show. It’s the type of smile that takes up her whole face and makes Ann’s heart flutter.

And then they are heading out of the building to get lunch together and Ann is struggling to keep up with Anne’s ridiculous walking speed. On the walk down Anne had been talking about the business, she’d had a meeting about an upcoming merger and the way in which she speaks is enough to let Ann see the passion this woman has for her work. The topic changes as they reach the café.

“I googled you by the way” Anne is opening the door now, letting Ann in first because of course she is and the words hang in the air for a second. Because who the fuck googles their secretary. “Sorry, that sounds weird. Eliza mentioned you were an artist and I had a look at your work. I like it”. They’re at the table now and Anne pulls out a chair, letting Ann slide in first before moving to sit down as well. She smiles at a server who seems to recognise her and immediately moves into the kitchen

“Thanks… I… I really like my work too” she’s blushing now “I just mean I like doing it, painting is fun” she rushes the last part and cringes the second it leaves her lips. At least there’s no worry of the crush being reciprocated now; Catherine can rest easy.

“I’m sure it is, not sure I can say the same about my job” Anne leans back in her chair and shrugs “Although I have a secret love for chairing meetings”

“It’s not all that great, lots of paperwork involved. I have a showing on Thursday night, and I think I’ve spent more time emailing the gallery than actually painting” Ann’s on much more comfortable ground now, she could talk about her art all day.

“Do you need that day off?” It’s not even something Ann had thought to ask for. It would be useful though; the showing doesn’t start until 7 but there’s a lot of preparation that needs to happen.

“Just the afternoon would be nice… if it’s not… I don’t want to inconvenience you” She really doesn’t want to inconvenience Anne, wants to be a half decent secretary for someone who so clearly cares about her business.

“It’s no problem, your art needs to come first. I don’t want this job to get in the way of your life Ann” there’s a hint of concern now and it’s something she didn’t expect from a woman who runs such a cutthroat business.

“Thank you, it means a lot”

The server from earlier arrives with two sandwiches then and the conversation halts for a moment. When it starts again the topic is lighter. They discuss work a bit more before moving back onto her family. As it turns out Anne already knows about Ann’s dead parents and moves straight over to ask about her sister. Its no doubt the result of Eliza’s need to constantly gossip but she’s grateful none the less, it’s one of the few times Ann can remember when her parents have come up and it hasn’t been awkward. Talking about her sister and nephew is easy, Elizabeth is expecting a daughter soon and Ann is very excited to have an opportunity to resume her role as the doting aunt. She finds herself gushing before she knows it, only pausing in her speech to look at Anne. There’s a smile plastered across her face every time she does, and it takes a lot of self-control to not take it as a sign that Anne might just be enjoying spending time with her.

By the time they are heading back into the office its been an hour and Ann is floating. She’s not got feelings though, because that would be inconvenient. Reaching her desk again she pulls out her phone to reply to Catherine

**Ann: **I promise nothing

The reply comes immediately

**Catherine: **you exhaust me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have the weekend off from work so might be able to slip in another update before Monday. Dont hold your breath though, deep down I'm still a useless gay. Hope you enjoyed the chapter I have written


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> apologies for the short update, this was supposed to be part of a larger chapter but i couldnt make that not awkward so this is what you get

Anne takes two coffee breaks a day, one at 11 and one at 3. It doesn’t take Ann long to realise this.

After lunch that first day she barely gets any work done, far too absorbed in her own thoughts to care about property management. Which is why it's such a relief when she feels someone standing beside her and a voice next to her left ear.

“Coffee?”

Ann turns around far too quickly and almost knocks the woman, who she now realises is her boss, right off her feet.

“SHIT, sorry!” she can feel her face turning crimson as Anne stumbles backwards “But yes… sure… I’d like that.”

Anne looks flustered but regains her balance quickly “This way then, I’ll show you the breakroom” She’s walked away from the desk before Ann has had chance to stand up and she finds herself half running to keep up with Anne.

By the time they arrive at the office Ann is slightly out of breath and has to awkwardly tell Anne that she doesn’t like coffee but is actually more of a tea drinker. Anne smiles and dips her head as she starts on a black coffee.

“The tea bags are over there then" 

Ann thanks her and fills a mug from the kettle. Two sugars and a dash of milk, the way her and Elizabeth had always taken their tea.

And then they talk, Anne somehow managing to put the same amount of passion she has when talking about her business into the banalities of her secretary’s life and work. She’s called away after 10 minutes to a crisis that, according to her poor accountant, can only be solved by the CEO. Ann stays in the breakroom for another 5 minutes, meets a Mrs Hemingway and smiles through the small talk while trying to think of anything other than the way Anne smiled when she’d first accepted the offer of a coffee.

Tuesday, 11 on the dot, Anne comes by her desk. They break together again and when Anne has to leave Ann notices Mrs Hemingway staring at her.

3pm and there’s another offer. This time Ann has an email she needs to quickly send before taking a break and so offers to meet Anne in the breakroom. 5 minutes later she walks in to find a cup of tea already made. She sips it, dash of milk, 2 sugars, Anne’s been paying attention.

By Wednesday the routine has set in and the conversation has moved past small talk. A mutual love of classic literature finds Anne losing track of time for both breaks and having to stride off with a quick apology to Ann.

On Thursday the conversation centres entirely on Ann’s show that evening. It’s a short break this time, another crisis pulls Anne away and Ann is left with only Mrs Hemingway left in the room.

“Do you too know each other well?” the older woman steps towards her and offers Ann a open packet of biscuits. She takes one and smiles to show her gratitude.

“No, I’m only working here for 6 months to make a bit of extra money. She knows my cousin though” Ann puts the biscuit to her lips and looks over to where Anne is using some seriously complex hand actions to explain her ideas to a captivated member of HR.

“Curious, she never normally takes breaks. Ever the workaholic”

And here’s the thing. Ann really did want to avoid getting a crush on her boss. After lunch that first day she had vowed to not move past anything other than a working relationship with Anne. But it"s Anne herself who’s making that particularly hard. Because its not just the coffee breaks, it's Anne stopping by her desk for a chat every time she walks past it. And sure, they never take lunch together again after Monday, Anne does run a company after all, but she still stops by Ann’s desk every day at 12:30 to let her know she can take her break. It's completely pointless, the time of her lunch is written into her contract, but after the first two days Ann finds herself waiting for Anne’s appearance before she leaves.

On the first evening Ann drops into Anne’s office to say goodbye and the visit lasts 20 minutes. She considers just leaving without letting Anne know the next day but it seems rude and so she says goodbye and it takes 20 minutes again. By the third day that conversation’s routine as well.

On Thursday Anne comes by her desk and all but forces her out of her chair to go prepare for the gallery showing. There’s a familiarity to their conversations now and it’s something Ann is really trying to not notice. It’s been raining again, and the yellow coat has had to make its return. Anne takes it off the back of Ann’s chair and holds it out. Helps her to get into it and it’s the closest they’ve been physically, the first time they’ve ever actually touched beyond the handshake that first day. The action is accompanied by one last wish of luck for the evening and with that Ann is gone.

Because sure, she’s completely infatuated with her boss, but she’s also not an idiot. Ann knows what being interested in someone looks like, and in all her stress induced daydreams about life at Shibden Enterprises she had never entertained the terrifying thought that Anne might like her back.


End file.
